Hell’s Fear (Hellfire MC #11)

Chapter Three.

Team Two: Celt and Chey, Chatter, (Hellfire). Phoe (Hellfire/Rage). Hunter and Mina (Rage). Ben (RCPD). Kele (Hawthorne’s). Mouse (Unwanted Bastards).

Phoe

I bounced on my toes when the door opened, and we all trekked in.

At first, I was surprised at what faced me; it wasn’t something I’d expected. It was like being in a spooky clothing shop. Racks of clothes took up floor space, and the lighting was dull. A sales counter and register stood to one side, and the walls were painted a pale beige.

We spotted the exit immediately, and there was a big counter above it, which started counting down.

“I’ve got a fuse box over here with no fuses,” Hunter announced as he examined the door.

“Guess we have to find them?” Chey asked.

“Looks like it,” Chatter called from behind the counter where he was looking down.

I moved around and bit my lip. Boxes with numbers on them were stacked neatly underneath, and the cash register was locked with a padlock.

“What’s the betting there’s a fuse in the cash drawer?” I muttered, and Chatter nodded. “We need to find a code to open the register.”

“Two fuses are required, any idea where to search? We could be here all day,” Mouse asked.

“I’ve got something here,” Celt called as he gazed at a wall.

“What?” I inquired.

“It’s four pictures. Each shows a different item: candy canes, roses, a gold bar, and a fish,” Celt replied.

“That’s freaking random,” I muttered.

“Here’s a shirt covered in roses,” Mina exclaimed and started searching it. “Found a key!”

“Okay, so we need to find clothing with candy canes, gold bars, and fishes?” Hunter asked.

“Yeah,” I agreed as I began looking.

“I have the candy cane. Who the hell would wear that?” Chey demanded, holding up an ugly blouse.

“Can’t disagree,” I muttered. It was bloody awful.

Chey waved a key in the air.

After ten minutes of hunting the last two items, we were scratching our heads. There wasn’t a fish or gold bar-covered item of clothing.

Kele yanked out a fishing jacket and inquired, “What about this?”

He searched the pockets and groaned as he pulled a key out.

“Note to everyone, it’s not just images,” Mouse said.

“I found a gold skirt,” Ben called as he checked it over. “Nothing.”

“Got a gold pair of pants,” Chatter announced and discovered a key in the waistband.

A few minutes later, we were back to scratching our heads again. None of the keys fit the cash register.

“Is there a keyhole in the pictures?” Kele asked.

“Yeah,” Ben replied, examining them.

Two turned up empty while one held a fuse and the second a photograph of a box.

“The boxes under the till,” I said. “Is there a number on that photo?”

“Six,” Ben called.

There was a load of sixes, and the boxes weren’t easy to open. Finally, the second from last wielded a padlock key, and we got the cash register open. The lights flashed as the door opened, and we entered the next room.

“Dolls!” Chatter howled and hid behind Hunter, who threw him an incredulous look.

“Oh, no!” I groaned.

Chatter began climbing Hunter’s back, who no longer looked amused.

“Those are not dolls!” Celt snapped, exasperated.

“Big dolls, big fuckin’ dolls!” Chatter screamed.

Hunter winced and tried to shrug Chatter off.

Mouse, the tallest man here, reached up and dragged Chatter from Hunter’s back as Chatter nearly throttled Hunter.

“Fuck!” Kele whimpered as he plastered himself against the wall.

“Kele?” I asked, turning to the big Samoan.

“Some of my people believe dolls trap evil spirits. My grandma was one, and her belief was passed down to me,” Kele whispered.

“Oh shit!” I murmured.

“Big fuckin’ dolls!” Chatter screeched, backing away.

“They’re mannequins!” Celt hollered as Chey and Mina tried to hide smiles.

I knew how they felt. It was hard not to laugh at Chatter’s fear. My heart felt for him, but his reaction was so funny.

“No fuckin’ dolls!” Chatter shrieked and backed into a mannequin. The arm touched him, and Chatter’s eyes rolled up and he fell backwards full length and hit the floor with a crash.

“I’m ashamed!” Celt complained as he checked Chatter over.

Kele remained plastered to the wall.

Well, this room was a shit show, I thought, amused, shaking my head.

All around us were mannequins standing with sheets covering them from head to toe. The light only shone so far. I swapped glances with Ben and stepped forward into the room, and some lights came on at the end.

“Fuck! It’s Chucky!” Celt yelled.

“Oh no!” I cried as Celt leapt to his feet and dropped Chatter’s head, bouncing it off the ground, and backed away quickly. Celt started casting a wary eye around.

“This is getting out of hand,” I complained as Mina shot over to Celt and hid behind his back.

On a platform above a small door sat Chucky on a throne. Two dark screens stood on each side of him.

“What do we do, Phoe?” Chey asked.

Chey, Hunter, Ben, Mouse, and I were all that remained active. The other four were down.

“Okay. I’m guessing we have to activate those screens somehow,” I said, approaching.

A screech left my lips as Chucky’s head swivelled, and it seemed as if the doll was staring at me.

“Hi, I’m Chucky, and I’ll be your friend to the end. Wanna play? Let’s play!” Chucky giggled, and the first box lit up. On it was a picture of a disco ball.

“I don’t understand,” I muttered, gazing around.

“I don’t see a disco ball,” Chey said, frowning.

“Could it be a disco outfit?” Ben asked as he lifted a sheet and saw the mannequin was wearing a costume.

“Could be, let’s search these,” I agreed.

We spread out, taking a row each. I was near Chatter when he sat up and rubbed his head. Abject horror crossed his face as he witnessed once again what we were surrounded by.

“Chatter, we’re trying to get you out. Hold on,” I said soothingly.

Chatter was frozen, his eyes getting wider and wider as his jaw dropped.

“Phoe!” Hunter roared and moved towards me fast. I stepped back, shocked, as suddenly an arm flashed, and a knife just missed me.

Chatter screamed as Hunter took me down and rolled me out of the way before leaping to his feet. The mannequin attacked Chatter, who was helpless. Celt leapt in front of Chatter, his hands up to defend his brother.

“What the fuck?” Kele cried as he overcame his fear and shoved the dummy away from Chatter. “That’s an actual knife!”

I saw blood well on Kele’s arm.

“What?” I whispered, terrified myself now.

The mannequin regained its balance and came at Kele, slashing and stabbing. Kele used another mannequin to hide behind and deflect the blows.

Hunter gathered Chey, Mina, and me up and stood in front of us as Ben yelled from the far end of the room. I gasped as I saw a mannequin ambushing him, too.

Mouse was also battling one on the opposite side of the room. All three assailants were armed, and Mouse dropped his attacker. The fighting was knocking mannequins down and sending them flying, adding to the chaos.

A gun appeared from under a sheet, and I screamed. Mouse kicked it away and then punched his adversary in the face. The guy stumbled over a fallen mannequin, tripping and falling.

Mouse wasted no time and stamped down hard.

I turned my head as Mouse crushed the intruder’s throat.

Rasping breaths filled the air, and Mouse stomped again. He bent and grabbed the gun and aimed at Ben’s attacker, who’d now also pulled a weapon after stabbing Ben with his knife.

“Ben!” I cried, and Mouse shot without hesitation.

Ben’s aggressor dropped like a stone, and a dark stain soaked into the sheet.

Meanwhile, Kele was fighting his fear and his assailant.

Mouse spun to fire, but a fourth Mannequin moved and pinned Mouse’s arms. Mouse shoved upwards and kicked backwards in an attempt to dislodge his captor.

Kele ripped an arm from a mannequin and smashed it into his opponent’s head.

I glimpsed a flash of silver and, without thinking, raced forward, swept the knife up, and stabbed it into the person attacking Kele. He spun on me and punched me in the face, but I’d firmly wedged the blade in.

Kele yanked it free, stepped up, and slit the asshole’s throat as I landed on my ass.

Mouse went limp in his attacker’s arms as Ben grabbed a dropped weapon and shot twice. Mouse’s attacker fell backwards, and he nodded thanks at Ben.

Silence fell, and we all stared at each other in shock. Chatter still hadn’t moved.

“What the fuck was that?” Ben finally rasped as he slid to sit on the floor. I rushed over to him and yanked his jacket away to see where he’d been stabbed in the shoulder.

I wore a tee under my sweater, and I quickly tore it off and pulled my tee off. As I shoved my sweater back on, I moved to grab a knife to shred my tee, and Ben stopped me.

“Fingerprints, Phoe,” he said.

“Okay,” I whispered as I began tearing my tee up.

“They’re Venomous Fangs!” Celt announced as he ripped a sheet off.

“What the fuck?” Ben exclaimed. “Nobody touch anything.” He got to his feet and moved forward to study the uncovered body.

“Uncover the remaining three bodies, but don’t touch them,” Ben instructed Celt, who complied.

“They’re all Fangs,” I gasped.

“They’ve infiltrated the Escape Rooms. It’s the only explanation,” Hunter said. He was keeping Mina and Chey firmly behind him to protect them from the horror in front of us.

Bile rose in my throat, and I began shaking.

“That means the other teams might be in trouble,” I cried.

“Keep it together, Phoe,” Kele ordered, approaching. His arm had been wrapped by Mouse, and I stared at the torn tee acting as a bandage.

“This is my fault. I should have known better,” I whispered. “I’m so damn selfish.”

“Hey, Phoe. This isn’t on you. Wanting life to continue as we’ve become accustomed isn’t a bad thing. You didn’t start this war. Fury did. You gotta remember that,” Mouse stated.

“But we know Fury’s on the move, and I insisted on celebrating. This is on me,” I berated myself. And it was. It didn’t matter what they said; they were here because of me.

“We’ll deal with your guilt later. Right now, we need to leave and find a way to warn the other teams,” Kele replied.

“The timer is ticking down, and we’re unaware of how many more rooms are left. There’s got to be at least two more and we’ve wasted a load of time. Let’s find this disco mannequin,” Celt said.

Everyone apart from Chatter pulled themselves together and hunted for the disco mannequin. As soon as we found it and pressed a button hanging around its neck, the next box lit up. It was a punk from the eighties, the third was dressed in a mini skirt from the nineties, and the fourth wore flares from the sixties.

Under Chucky, the door slid open, and we crawled into the next room.

“Everybody, eat and drink something. You may not want to, but you’ll need to refresh,” Ben ordered as he and I took in the room.

On one wall were thirty lit images of different outfits, and on the other wall were years.

“Guess we have to match the outfit with the year?” I asked.

“Think I’d agree with that. Look at those velvet flares. That’s the seventies,” Ben pointed out. I pressed the button on the flares, and Ben hit nineteen-seventy-four. Nothing happened.

“Could they be the sixties?” I inquired.

“Nope, I have photos of my dad in the seventies wearing them. Press together on three,” Ben suggested.

He counted down, and we pushed the buttons. The lights remained on.

“That pantsuit is from the seventies,” Chey said, approaching. Counting down again, we pressed all three, and the lights turned off. Great, it wasn’t just pairs.

“Never simple, is it?” Chey muttered.

Quickly, we worked our way through, and the door opened after a few minutes.

The fourth room we found ourselves in was filled with bolts of cloth. They stood upright and were held in place by locks that clamped around the ends of them. We still had an hour. Next to the door was a sign showing people standing and going in height difference.

It made no sense until Mouse realised the bolts of cloth were different heights.

After figuring out how to undo the clamps, we began hurrying as we really needed to get to the next room. Twenty minutes later, the door slid open, and we found ourselves in the fifth room.

This one was a doozy.

We had to cross the room using stepping stones, which were quite a way apart. Above us were ribbons which we could hold on to and slid across pipes to the next stepping stone.

Ben faced a tough challenge. On the wall, written in luminous paint, it warned us should three of us touch the ground, we’d be locked in.

With Ben unable to lift his arm, we were in a bit of a quandary. There was a light showing the number nine.

“Okay, Celt, you go first,” Ben said.

“Yeah.”

Celt completed it within minutes, and Chatter went next, followed by Chey. Chey struggled as she tried to slide the ribbons along the pipes. Her legs flailed, and twice, I winced as she came close to touching the floor. Finally, she made it across as Celt grabbed her and hauled her to safety.

“Those ribbons don’t move easily. You have to make them move,” Chey called out.

“That doesn’t bode well for Ben or Kele,” I replied.

“If they can throw the ribbons to the centre, they should be able to swing over,” Celt suggested.

“Okay, I’ll go next,” Ben offered. He wrapped the ends of the ribbon around one arm and swung out. He grunted as his shoulder took his weight, but he made it to the second step. “That wasn’t a great idea,” Ben said, rotating his good shoulder.

With a deep breath, he reached up and clutched the ends with both hands. I hated the pain that showed on his face as he managed the next two stepping stones. On the fourth, he rested, holding his wound.

“Ben, I can come out and carry you over,” Celt offered.

Ben straightened. “Don’t insult me!”

My heart hurt for him as he swung over the last few and landed safely.

He slid down the wall, pressing on his injured shoulder, which had begun to bleed again. Celt ripped the bottom of his tee off and re-wrapped the wound. Ben nodded his thanks.

Kele went next and managed it easily, followed by Mina, who touched the ground. A red bar shone on the wall.

Strike one.

Finally, Hunter and I were last. Hunter nudged me out, and I reached the first one. But my legs were flailing like mad.

“Moving that ribbon isn’t easy,” I said.

“Keep going, Phoe,” Celt called out, encouraging me. I made it halfway across before I slipped and hit the floor. I immediately jumped onto the stepping stone, but a red light came up.

“Phoe, hang on, I’m coming,” Hunter said.

I moved to the edge as Hunter swung across to me.

“Hold on to me,” Hunter said as he arrived next to me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and locked my hands tightly. Hunter stretched and threw the ribbon to the middle of the pipe and leapt. I squealed as we landed safely, and Hunter chuckled.

Relief washed over me as we reached the other side. The door flashed green and slid open.

We piled through and entered a completely black room that was well lit and had chairs.

“There’s a timer still counting down,” Mina said.

“The remainder of the four hours? I’d hoped we’d end up waiting with the other teams. Shit!” Ben snapped.

“I hate to point out the obvious. But with only ten minutes left, if Fangs have invaded the other team’s escape rooms, then they’ve already attacked,” Mouse informed us.

It was a sobering feeling. We had no idea if any of our people were injured—or dead. We were locked in.

Hunter attempted to forcefully open the door. But I knew it was pointless. Even if Hunter succeeded, we’d enter the next room alone. Mina walked over and spoke to him quietly, and Hunter stopped and reached out and held her.

Arms wrapped around me too, and I leaned into my brother’s embrace. Chatter hugged me close as we all watched the timer countdown to find out what had happened to our family.